Cruïlles
- Sant Miquel de Cruïlles
- Torre de Cruïlles
SANT MIQUEL DE CRUÏLLES
The
church of Sant Miquel de Cruïlles was built during the Xth-XIth
centuries on the ruins of a former building. In the apse, pieces
of Roman pottery can be found. The church consists of 3 naves,
a transept and 3 semicircular apses with a dome. Everything is
decorated with friezes of round arcading except for the transept.
Where there are splay windows with Roman arches. The 3 naves are
covered with barrel vaults; the interior of the church is mostly
covered with boulders and mortar because of a later reconstruction
in the XVIth. and XIXth. centuries. Sant Miquel de Cruïlles was
built with boulders .The even sandstone masonry can be seen in
edges, pillars... From all that that it can be said that it belongs
to the 2nd Romanesque period. Both of the towers date back to
the same period, whereas the bell tower was added some time later.
This church holds a collection of religious work of art and liturgical
vessels. .
Typical Romanesque arches which
are in the same church.
CRUÏLLES TOWER
During
the XIIIth. century the liege lords of Cruïlles-Peratallada were
the most important ones all over el Baix Empordà. The only remaining
part of the castle is a very peculiar 25-metre-high circular keep
placed right in the middle of the square. Rectangular, uniform
boulders together with mortar were used from the basement up to
the middle of the tower. Once here we can distinguish a 4-metre-high
strip of uneven and unpolished boulders combined with sandstone.
Inside the tower there are 2 semispherical vaults and in between
an arch that presumably supported a wooden floor. The existence
of a short entrance fitted in a round arch would explain the fact
that the tower was connected to other buildings that formed the
walled enclosure. This tower can be considered as one of the most
notable samples of the country. It's believed to have been built
during the 2nd half of the XIth. century.
